video streaming

There's a new service that anyone who relies on Netflix as a daily source of entertainment will not be able to live without. It answers the problem that many users no doubt have in that it is difficult to tell when something new has been added to Netflix. Short of logging in and checking the "New Arrivals" section every day, it pretty much can't be done.

Netflix has become the the largest online movie service in the US, taking Apple out of the top spot. According to data collected by IHS iSuppli, Netflix's share of the online movie market surged to 44 percent in 2011 from 0.5 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, Apple's market share through its iTunes service fell nearly by half to 32.3 percent in 2011 from 60.8 percent in 2010.

I think it would be pretty safe to say that most in Hollywood don't like YouTube. Hollywood movie studios have long scorned YouTube as a place where studio content is pirated and copyrights are broken. The system in place today allows copyright holders to file complaints with YouTube, and YouTube will pull the videos down (often with little or no investigation).

After first launching on the PS3, Amazon's Netflix clone is making its way to the Xbox 360. The Amazon Instant Video app launched today over Xbox Live, allowing customers to have instant access to the library of movies and TV shows they've already purchased from Amazon, as well as the full span of streaming videos available to Amazon Prime members.

The most recent season premiere for the AMC series Mad Men brought in a whopping 3.5 million viewers. That's not too shabby for a basic cable show, especially when you compare it to last year's season opener. That episode pulled in around 2.3 million viewers. So what's the reason behind that explosive growth? If you believe Ted Sarandos, then it's almost exclusively thanks to Netflix.

So the way the living room market exists now, if you're on the leading edge of electronics, you have a cable or satellite box which you use to watch live TV. But if you want to stream a movie, check in with what's up on your friend's wall, tune into Internet radio, or find out what the weather's like, you have to change your TV to some sort of Internet-connected device like a game console or third-party set-top box. Sound familiar? Comcast wants that to be a thing of the past.

As if gamers needed another video streaming platform on the Xbox 360, Best Buy's CinemaNow app has now arrived on the Microsoft console. CinemaNow is a platform that allows users to rent or buy movies and TV shows, just like iTunes, Amazon Video On Demand, and Vudu, but without the brand recognition of any of those other names.

If you're like me, you remember the day that Netflix's streaming video service first launched. And at that time, you would shut off the TV and spend hours watching movies and TV shows on your computer. Now, though, there are millions of people who no doubt have a Netflix streaming subscription and have never even watched any content from the confines of their computer.

One undeniable trend about the Olympics over the last eight years is that its presence in online and mobile platforms has absolutely exploded. In 2004, NBC launched a mobile website dedicated to people wanting to check out the latest medal counts and breaking news on their phone, but it was little more than truncated text and a few tiny images. This year, you'll be able to watch every moment of the international sporting event from your phone.

After Netflix completely shot itself in the foot and announced to the entire world, "We take all of our paying subscribers for granted," the company seems to have played its game of damage control fairly well, as the level of satisfaction that customers have for the streaming service has now gone up from where it was at the end of last year. This is according to the results from analytics group Forsee's annual Top 100 E-Trail Satisfaction Index.